Lobby wants man who helped graduate torch himself arrested

Human rights activists and members of the public are calling for the arrest of a man who unwittingly helped a man commit suicide in Mombasa on Thursday.

Robert Gituhu, 27, was seen setting himself ablaze at the Mwembe Tayari roundabout on Thursday evening.

In a viral video, Gituhu is seen dousing himself in what seems to be paraffin or petrol before lighting a fire.

He later died at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital after sustaining 80 per cent burns, according to a doctor’s brief seen by the Star.

However, witnesses now say Gituhu had not intended to set himself ablaze as widely thought.

“There was a man he was walking with who was hyping him up. This man was encouraging him as the deceased threatened to set himself ablaze,” Issa Mohamed, a Mombasa county firefighter who happened to be in the vicinity, told the Star.

Mohammed is the one who rushed to a nearby petrol station, took a fire extinguisher and put out the fire, but it was too little too late.

According to Mohamed, Gituhu’s friend who was hyping him up, told him Gituhu had no intention of committing suicide.

“He told us Gituhu was only trying to put a message across. The deceased said it was not the Kikuyus who stole Raila’s votes. He said if it were truly the Kikuyu who stole Raila’s vote, then he would set himself ablaze,” Mohamed narrated.

It is at this point that Gituhu climbed onto a pedestal with a Kenyan flag on his left hand.

While speaking, the friend handed him the lighter.

“The deceased was always putting the lighter far away from the body which had already been doused in petrol," Mohammed said.

"He did not realize that with petrol, even the vapour from the petrol can catch fire. It is the vapour that caught fire and since his body was already wet, it travelled to his body very fast."

He said the deceased’s friend should be apprehended because had he not given him the lighter, Gituhu would have been alive today.

Gituhu’s uncle Samson Gituhu told Haki Africa’s Mathias Shipeta his nephew, a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Eldoret, has had a history of mental issues.

He graduated in 2021 and has been tarmacking since.

According to Shipeta, Gituhu has disappeared from home thrice with the family reporting him missing each time.

Before his death, he had disappeared from home and was reported missing at King’eero police station Kabete, Kiambu county.

Shipeta said: “According to the family, the first time Gituhu disappeared, he was found in a man’s compound in Kiambu. He was rescued. The second time he disappeared, he was found at the SGR where he was almost shot by police because of his actions. Now this time he was found in Mombasa but under these unfortunate circumstances.”

He said the man seen giving Gituhu a lighter or matchbox should also be arrested and questioned.

“He has technically abetted suicide,” Shipeta said.

The Haki Africa rapid response said the government should do more to sensitise people on mental health.

“According to the family, Gituhu had been depriving himself of sleep for a long time. Either he was trans-nighting with books or studying the whole day.

“He was also reported to have been complaining of the high cost of living. He had disappeared for three days when the viral video of him emerged,” Shipeta said.

By the time of going to press the family was still at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital morgue trying to process the body.

The family wants to transport the body to Kiambu before funeral arrangements commence.

“The high cost of living is a real issue that the government needs to seriously look into. It is not a political matter anymore. It is real,” said Shipeta.